1827.] 



Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



545 



cipating the transit of the comet seen in Chemical Composition of two liquids lately 

 Bootes over the sun's disc, on the 18th of proposed as powerful disinfectants, and on 



< . . . / j i i! 1_ ^ .^.-.f i*i,l k*ttM%l 



November, he presents the elements of the 

 parabolic orbit of another comet, which are 



as below : viz. 



From Midnight. 

 Passage of the perihelion 1827. 34 d -9S9M.T. 



Perihelion distance 0-455 



Longitude of perihelion 34 0' 50" 



Longitude of the node . . 191 44 33 



Inclination ?2 4 15 



Motion retrograde. , 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIKTY. 



The Vfednesday meetings of this Society, 

 during the last month, ha\e been numerovtsly 

 attended, and the lectures at three o'clock 

 have excited much interest. At three of these 

 meetings, the secretary delivered discourses on 

 the affinities that connect the different groups 

 of ornithology, illustrating the subject by 

 specimens of the most attracting groups in 

 the society's collection. Several ladies of dis- 

 tinguished rank were present at these exhi- 

 bitions. A lecture has also been given by 

 Mr. Brookes, the celebrated anatomist, on 

 the comparative anatomy of the ostrich. 

 A fine opportunity was afforded for illus- 

 trating this subject by a donation from his 

 Majesty of a female ostrich which, lately 

 died in the menagerie at Windsor. Prepara- 

 tions were made of the more interesting parts 

 of this bird, which, with specimens of the 

 different parts of structure of the emeu, 

 cassowary, rhea, &c. selected from Mr. 

 Brookes's museum, served to illustrate this 

 very erudite and scientific lecture. A nume- 

 rous audience of the principal men of science 

 in London, was collected on this occasion. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Feb. 15. Sir R. H. Vyvyan, Bart., M.P., 

 and Cjesar Moreau, Esq., were admitted Fel- 

 lows of the Society, and the following papers 

 were read : An Astronomical Paper, by C. 

 Kumker, Esq. ; Remarks on a correction of 

 the solar tables required by Mr. South's Ob- 

 servations, by G. B. Airey, Esq., F.R.S. The 

 reading was begun of a paper on the mutual 

 attractions of the particles of magnetic bodies, 

 by S. H. Christie, Esq., F. R.S. Feb. 22. 

 G. W. Taylor, Esq., M.P., was admitted a 

 Fellow of the Society, and the reading of 

 Mr. Christie's paper concluded. A notice 

 was read, entitled Correction of an Error 

 in a paper published in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, entitled " On the parallax of 

 the fixed Stars," by I. F. W. Herschell, Esq., 

 Secretary R.S. ; and a paper on attractions 

 apparently magnetic, exhibited during che- 

 mical combinations, byW. L. Kenwood, Esq., 

 communicated by D. Gilbert, Esq., V.P.R.S. 

 Mar. 1. Dr. J.C. Prichard was admitted a 

 Fellow of the Society ; and a paper was read 

 on the structure and use of the submaxillary 

 odoriferous gland of the Crocodile, by Thomas 

 Bell, Esq., F.L.S., communicated by Sir. E. 

 Home, Bart., V.P.R.S. The reading wa s 

 commenced of a paper, entitled, " Note on the 



M.M. New Sme5.-VoL.III. No. IT. 



the action of those liquids on putrid animal 

 matter," by A. B. Granville, M D., F.R.S., 

 Mar. 8. M. M. Morichini, Ehrman, and Am- 

 pere, were elected Foreign Members of the 

 Society. A letter was read from M. Rum- 

 ker, announcing his discovery of a Comet 

 in the southern hemisphere, in September last, 

 at Paramatta. The reading of Dr. Gran- 

 ville's paper was concluded. A paper was 

 also read, entitled " On the permeability of 

 transparent screens of extreme tenuity by 

 radiant heat, 3 ' by W.Ritchie; communi- 

 cated by Mr. Herschell. March 1<5. Captain 

 G. Everest, conductor of the trigonometrical 

 survey of India, was admitted Fellow of the 

 Society ; and M. M. Struve, Stromayer, 

 Plana, and Soemering, were elected Foreign 

 Members. A paper was read, entitled " Cor- 

 rection of an Error in the reduction of the 

 observations for atmospherical refraction at 

 Point Bowen, by Lieut. Forster, R.N., F.R.S. ; 

 the reading was also commenced of a Paper 

 on Experiments for determining the mean 

 density of the Earth, made with two invari- 

 able pendulums, at the mine of Dolcoath, in 

 Cornwall, by Mr. Whewell, F.R.S., and G. B. 

 Airey, F.R.S. Mar. 22, The reading of the 

 above paper was concluded, and an Appendix 

 to it, by Professor Airey, was read. 



FOREIGN. 



INSTITUTE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Paris, January 22, and February 17. 

 The president stated, that after a due exami- 

 nation of the subject, nothing prevented the 

 memoirs u on the physiology of vegeta- 

 bles" from appearing among those which 

 are written for the prize for " experimental 

 physiology,'' founded by M. Montyon. M. 

 Arago communicated a letter from M. Bous- 

 singault, addressed to M. Humboldt, and 

 dated from Bogota, in which he describes the 

 earthquake experienced there on June 17, 

 1826. M. M. Silvestre and Rose made a 

 favourable report on two memoirs of M 

 Saintomens, concerning the improvement of 

 the uncultivated parts of the Landes. A 

 favourable report was likewise made by 

 M. Dulong and Gay Lussac, on a memoir of 

 M. Dumas, on various points of the atomic 

 theory which paper, as well as another by 

 Dr. V. Portal, on " human aneucephalous 

 monsters, " was ordered to be inserted among 

 the communications of learned strangers. 

 The same honour was likewise adjudged to 

 the observations of M. Lescelles on some 

 compounds of brome which he had obtained. 

 February 19. A letter of M. Le Roy of 

 of Etiolles, was read, relative to new instru- 

 ments for measuring the stones in the blad- 

 der. : Some observations and calculations 

 regarding the comet in Bootes, was com- 

 municated by M Vabe and Gambart.- -M. 

 Cauchy presented a memoir on the shock of 

 elastic bodies. A favourable but verbal re- 

 4 A 



